Say Cheese!

Ruchira tells us the story of cheese, its antiquity and how it became an industrial product with the rise of its popularity and increased demands. Here’re the interesting details, in the weekly column, exclusively for Different Truths.

Cheese, the five letters spell the ultimate in fine dining. An epitome of affluence and sophistication. It is probably the pivot point and the essential ingredient of Continental cuisine.

Origin of Cheese

The origin of this delectable item is lost in the mists of antiquity. However, according to a story doing the rounds, the cheese was inadvertently created by an Arabian merchant who had stored his supply of milk into a bag made out of animal hide while travelling across the desert. Due to solar heat and the milk reacting with the hide, it split into curd and whey. Later, in the night the Arab discovered that the whey slaked his thirst. Consumption of the white mass made him feel full.

Cheese Spreads

In the centuries that followed, Asian travellers (mainly Arabs) reportedly carried the savoir-faire of cheese making to Europe. It is well known that cheese was common food item when the Roman Empire had reached its zenith. During their conquests of the British Isles Romans introduced cheese making to England.

Cheese in Monasteries

Interesting to note, from the decline of the Roman Empire until the discovery of America, the cheese was made and improved upon by monks and nuns in the innumerable monasteries dotting the continent. During those medieval times, monks and nuns who led Spartan lives, away from society had cheese as their staple diet as it was a major source of protein. Most monasteries and nunneries raised their own cows, goats and sheep. Hence cheese was easily and plentifully available.

Cheese Goes to America

Cheese making continued to flourish in Europe and became an integral part of people’s diet. When the Pilgrims made their voyage to America in 1620 they included cheese in the supplies loaded aboard their ship Mayflower. Cheese quickly spread in the New World. However, it remained a local farm industry until the 19th century.

The first cheese factory in the United States was built by Jesse Williams in Oneida County, New York around 1851.As the population of the USA grew, the demand for cheese increased manifold. In 1845, a band of Swiss immigrants based in Wisconsin began manufacturing of foreign cheese in America. Most Wisconsin farmers began to believe that their future survival was tied to cheese. So they worked hard to establish their first Limburger plant around 1868.From an agricultural produce cheese now became an industrial product. The demand for cheese grew by leaps and bounds through the 1970s and 1980s. This eventually brought total cheese production to more than 6 billion pounds by the early 1990s. Till date the US of A is a major producer and consumer of cheese in the world

Types of Cheese

Parmesan cheese is aconnoisseur’s delight. True Parmesan cheese has a hard, gritty texture and is fruity and nutty in taste. This is extensively used in a grated form in pasta, soups, and risottos.

A highly reputed cheese, Penicillium Roquefort, originated in France’s Roquefort town, dotted with caves full of naturally occurring Penicillium mould /spores. Originally the cheesemakers left loaves of rye bread in the nearby caves. The loaves became hosts to the moulds in the air. A month later, the mould inside the loaves of bread was dried, ground and combined with cheese. The round chunks of cheese were then left inside the caves for ripening. In the absence of refrigeration, the coolness of the caves prevented the cheeses from spoiling. What an ingenious way of using nature!

Gouda is a Dutch cheese named after the city of Gouda in the Netherlands. Immensely popular, it accounts for 50 to 60 % of the global s cheese consumption. It is a semi-hard cheese, with a rich, unique flavour and smooth texture. Typically made from pasteurized cow’s milk. Though sheep/ goat milk may be used.

Feta of Greek origin is a brined white cheese made from sheep and/or goat milk. It is a crumbly aged cheese, commonly produced in blocks, and has a slightly grainy texture. Consequently, it is used as a table cheese, especially in salads and pastries. It may also be grilled, and used in sandwiches, omelettes etc.

Emmenthal, hailing from Emme River Valley, Switzerland, is a firm cheese, pale yellow in colour. It is buttery, mildly sharp, with slightly nutty taste. Its hallmark is the holes or ‘eyes’. Did you know the holes are formed by gas bubbles released by the bacteria that go into making the cheese? Due to its low melting point, it is extensively used in sauces and grilled sandwiches.

Blue cheese was reportedly produced by accident when a drunken cheese maker left behind a half-eaten loaf of bread in a humid cheese cave. Upon his return, he discovered that the mould covering the bread had transformed it into a blue cheese. This cheese is characterised by green, gray, blue or black veins or spots of mould throughout the body-the result of energetic activity by the microorganisms therein.

Sure enough, we must not forget the simpler country cousin of European cheese. Cottage cheese, nicknamed Paneeron the subcontinent. It can easily be made at home. All you need is a certain quantity of boiled milk and a few drops of lemon juice. While the milk is warm add the juice and Voila! You get a mass of impeccably white soft cheese!

Born in Guwahati Assam, Ruchira grew up in Delhi and Punjab. A product of Sacred Heart Convent, Ludhiana, she holds a Master’s degree in English Literature from Punjab University, Chandigarh. Armed with a P.G diploma in journalism in Journalism, she has been a pen-pusher for nearly 25 years. Her chequered career encompasses print, web, as well as television. She has metamorphosed as a feature writer, her forte being women’s issues, food, travel and literature.

News-Feed

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MONTREAL/MUMBAI (Reuters) - The real estate arm of Canada's second-largest pension fund manager wants to "more than double" the C$800 million ($631 million) it has already committed to investments in India in the short term, the unit's president said on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau travelled to the holiest site of Sikhism in northern India on Wednesday where government leaders said he assured them his country won't support anyone trying to revive a separatist movement in India.

YANGON (Reuters) - The first civilian to testify in the case of two Reuters reporters accused of violating Myanmar's Official Secrets Act contradicted police and prosecutors on Wednesday about where the pair were arrested, a defence lawyer said.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's elder son described India as an important market for The Trump Organization but said the global company will lose out on new deals because of self-imposed restrictions put in place by his father since he took office.

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ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif be removed as head of the political party he founded, six months after the court disqualified him as the country's leader over unreported income.

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(Reuters) - U.S. evangelist Billy Graham, who counseled presidents and preached to millions across the world from his native North Carolina to communist North Korea during his 70 years in the pulpit, died on Wednesday at the age of 99, a spokesman said.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Filipino director Lav Diaz's musical about martial law under President Ferdinand Marcos is set firmly in the 1970s, but the movie is as much about today, he told Reuters at the Berlin film festival on Wednesday.

MILAN (Reuters) - Italian entrepreneur Alessandro Bastagli set his sights on Shanghai Tang two decades ago and having finally bought the brand in 2017 from Richemont he aims to increase the group's sales by 15-20 percent next year.

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LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - Disney-Marvel's "Black Panther" is heading for a stunning $235 million debut over the four-day President's Day weekend at 4,020 North American locations, estimates showed Monday.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Director Erik Poppe says his latest film is part of the healing process in the aftermath of one of Norway's most horrifying events - the massacre of 69 people, many of them teenagers, at a youth camp on the island of Utoya.

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - A viral music video called "What a shot" is stirring debate in Brazil about the glamorization of crime and freedom of expression, as surging crime in Rio de Janeiro has led the government to put troops in charge of security in the tourist city.

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - Disney-Marvel's "Black Panther" is heading for a super-heroic $218 million debut over the four-day President's Day weekend at 4,020 North American locations, estimates showed Sunday.

(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump blasted media mogul Oprah Winfrey on Twitter on Sunday night over a segment on CBS's 60 Minutes program and again said he hoped she would face him as an opponent in the 2020 presidential race.

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MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A court on Wednesday remanded six people including a general manager at state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) in police custody for nearly two weeks, after the latest arrests in a probe into an alleged $1.8 billion fraud.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's elder son described India as an important market for The Trump Organization but said the global company will lose out on new deals because of self-imposed restrictions put in place by his father since he took office.

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - British industrialist Sanjeev Gupta said his GFG Alliance has no plans to slow its rapid pace of acquisitions over the coming year and could look to raise capital through debt or equity markets.

MONTREAL/MUMBAI (Reuters) - The real estate arm of Canada's second-largest pension fund manager wants to "more than double" the C$800 million ($631 million) it has already committed to investments in India in the short term, the unit's president said on Wednesday.

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(Reuters) - As signs of faster U.S. inflation boost financial market expectations for three or even more interest rate hikes this year, some U.S. central bankers are sticking to their view that aggressive policy tightening is unnecessary.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank appears to have been blindsided by Latvia's banking troubles, highlighting how thinly it is spread in supervising Europe's biggest lenders and raising questions about a system of euro zone supervision just three years old.

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ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif be removed as head of the political party he founded, six months after the court disqualified him as the country's leader over unreported income.

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's two ruling parties said on Wednesday they would continue their national unity government, easing the political uncertainty created by their poor showing in local council elections this month.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan has been given a three-month reprieve by a global watchdog over a U.S.-led motion to put the South Asian country on a terrorist financing watchlist, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif said late on Tuesday.

COLOMBO (Reuters) - A grenade exploded on a bus in Sri Lanka on Wednesday, injuring 19 people, including 12 military personnel, the prime minister said, but the military ruled out the possibility that the incident was an attack.

MALE (Reuters) - Parliament in the Maldives on Tuesday approved a 30-day extension of a state of emergency sought by President Abdulla Yameen who cited an ongoing national security threat and constitutional crisis.

DHAKA/YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar and Bangladeshi representatives held talks about 5,300 Rohingya Muslims trapped on a strip of unclaimed land between their two countries and visited the area on Tuesday, officials and Rohingya refugees told Reuters.

AIBAK, Afghanistan (Reuters) - An Afghan provincial governor who had defied President Ashraf Ghani's order to leave office agreed to step down on Tuesday but scores of armed men gathered in front of his compound as a standoff continued over the position of his deputy.

KABUL (Reuters) - Activists in Afghanistan are speaking out against corruption and spreading messages of peace and social justice with murals, many painted on concrete blast walls that have risen to ward off militant bombs.

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